WEBVTT 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:04.919 Properly defining and using Bible terms and concepts 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:11.560 is a key to the proper interpretation and understanding 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:17.339 of the Word of God. You take a simple word like 00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:21.940 grace, for example. That is a word that has a 00:00:21.940 --> 00:00:24.640 certain biblical definition, but in many circles 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:28.640 these days, has acquired a new and different 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.559 and unbiblical definition because it is said 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:35.399 to be something that we earn through doing certain 00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:40.000 things. And by earning grace, we therefore are 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.340 made more acceptable to God. But when you put 00:00:43.340 --> 00:00:46.520 the word grace and earn in the same sentence, 00:00:46.579 --> 00:00:48.740 you've nullified the biblical meaning of grace. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.280 Because grace is not something we earn. It's 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:58.640 something we are given freely. by God. The same 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.840 would be true regarding the word hell or Hades. 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:07.359 Unless one understands the difference between 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.700 those two, you may be confused in how he interprets 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:14.540 and understands the Bible. Or take, for example, 00:01:14.540 --> 00:01:18.400 the phrases the day of Christ and the day of 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:22.519 the Lord. If one understands them to be exactly 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.060 the same thing, he will be led to some confusion 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:30.540 in his interpretation of Bible prophecy. The 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:34.000 same idea is true regarding the terms in the 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:36.560 sermon title this morning, the church and the 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:41.200 kingdom of God. We must understand that they 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:43.560 are not precisely the same thing, though they 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:49.420 are related. Last week we talked about the church 00:01:49.420 --> 00:01:53.620 as being the mystery of the ages. The church 00:01:53.620 --> 00:01:57.299 is an elect body of people chosen before the 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:00.519 foundation of the world who are being called 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:05.680 out by the Holy Spirit during this age. The church 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:11.719 is composed of Jews and Gentiles alike who are 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.740 given the privilege of being united with deity. 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:19.770 and who have the purpose of reigning with Christ 00:02:19.770 --> 00:02:23.389 in His eternal kingdom. It's a brief summary 00:02:23.389 --> 00:02:29.129 of last week. That's the church. What is the 00:02:29.129 --> 00:02:33.090 kingdom of God? Well, we see the term that I'm 00:02:33.090 --> 00:02:36.250 using here, actually the kingdom of heaven, in 00:02:36.250 --> 00:02:39.349 Matthew chapter 13, which will provide the basis 00:02:39.349 --> 00:02:42.990 for the message this morning. And what I'm going 00:02:42.990 --> 00:02:46.550 to do is read a few verses in Matthew 13 to sort 00:02:46.550 --> 00:02:51.590 of set the tone. On that day, Jesus went out 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:56.129 of the house and was sitting by the sea. And 00:02:56.129 --> 00:02:59.229 great multitudes gathered to him so that he got 00:02:59.229 --> 00:03:02.830 into a boat and sat down. And the whole multitude 00:03:02.830 --> 00:03:05.430 was standing on the beach, and he spoke many 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:11.610 things to them in parables. Jesus used parables, 00:03:11.610 --> 00:03:16.210 particularly at certain points in his ministry, 00:03:16.330 --> 00:03:20.810 because it was his desire to conceal the truth 00:03:20.810 --> 00:03:23.629 from some and to reveal the truth to others. 00:03:25.830 --> 00:03:28.430 Now, to understand why, you would need to read 00:03:28.430 --> 00:03:31.689 this whole chapter. There were those who were 00:03:31.689 --> 00:03:34.689 predisposed because of their rejection of him. 00:03:35.689 --> 00:03:38.210 to reject the truth and to disbelieve it, and 00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:40.909 therefore he spoke in parables to conceal the 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:44.050 truth from them. Then there were those who would 00:03:44.050 --> 00:03:47.050 believe, and he spoke in parables that they may 00:03:47.050 --> 00:03:52.229 understand what he was saying. One of the parables 00:03:52.229 --> 00:03:54.969 is recorded. Behold, the sower went out to sow, 00:03:55.169 --> 00:03:59.229 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:03.110 and the birds came and ate them up, and others 00:04:03.110 --> 00:04:36.029 fell. He who has ears. Let them hear. Jesus wasn't 00:04:36.029 --> 00:04:38.610 talking about these two little things on the 00:04:38.610 --> 00:04:40.610 side of our heads that flop around in the wind. 00:04:41.389 --> 00:04:45.350 He was talking about spiritual ears. He who has 00:04:45.350 --> 00:04:48.829 ears to hear these words that I'm saying, let 00:04:48.829 --> 00:04:52.769 him hear them. And the disciples came to him 00:04:52.769 --> 00:04:56.329 and said, why do you speak to them in parables? 00:04:56.350 --> 00:04:59.470 And he answered and said to them, to you it has 00:04:59.470 --> 00:05:03.750 been granted to know the mysteries. of the kingdom 00:05:03.750 --> 00:05:07.110 of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 00:05:07.290 --> 00:05:10.329 And he goes on then to explain why, and I've 00:05:10.329 --> 00:05:13.230 already touched on that in brief. You will notice 00:05:13.230 --> 00:05:15.990 that Jesus uses here this phrase, the kingdom 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:18.290 of heaven. Literally, it is the kingdom of the 00:05:18.290 --> 00:05:22.870 heavens, plural. It is a phrase that is used 00:05:22.870 --> 00:05:29.759 some 32 times in the book of Matthew. The kingdom 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:33.860 of heaven is similar to, but not identical to, 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.420 the kingdom of God, a phrase used only five times 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:44.180 in the book of Matthew. The kingdom of God seems 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:48.819 to be a broader term, which refers to the rule 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:53.439 of God over all of His creation, the totality 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:56.959 of the universe, including the angelic realm. 00:05:57.660 --> 00:06:01.040 That is the kingdom of God in its broadest sense. 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:07.379 Within that, there is what is referred to as 00:06:07.379 --> 00:06:11.620 the kingdom of heaven, which may be defined as 00:06:11.620 --> 00:06:15.800 God's rule over the earth at any given period. 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:20.639 So you see, the kingdom of heaven has to do with 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.800 the rule of God upon the earth. It doesn't go 00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:25.959 beyond that. It's the earth that's in focus. 00:06:27.269 --> 00:06:32.730 The form of God's rule in this kingdom changes 00:06:32.730 --> 00:06:37.209 somewhat. For example, it was originally expressed 00:06:37.209 --> 00:06:41.529 through Adam and Eve, and through them His kingdom 00:06:41.529 --> 00:06:43.790 was to be carried out upon the earth, His rule, 00:06:43.850 --> 00:06:47.110 His authority. But Adam and Eve sinned and lost 00:06:47.110 --> 00:06:51.759 that. Old Testament Israel was an expression 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:55.040 of this rule of God upon the earth. But again, 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:58.160 Israel, because of disobedience, idolatry, and 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:02.980 spiritual adultery, lost out of the kingdom of 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:07.439 God, at least at that time. In Jesus' day, the 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:14.519 kingdom was proclaimed anew and in a consummating 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:18.860 sense. I would have you turn back in Matthew 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:22.399 to chapters 3, verses 1 and 2, where we are introduced 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:26.259 to this enigmatic figure in the wilderness by 00:07:26.259 --> 00:07:30.459 the name of John. He is called John the Baptist, 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:32.839 undoubtedly because he was the originator of 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:38.959 the Baptist denomination, don't you think? I 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:40.860 would like to elaborate on that, but I'm going 00:07:40.860 --> 00:07:45.970 to censor myself. But in those days, John the 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:49.050 Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of 00:07:49.050 --> 00:07:51.569 Judea and saying, and notice here is what he 00:07:51.569 --> 00:07:56.290 is saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is 00:07:56.290 --> 00:08:00.230 at hand. There's something urgent about this. 00:08:00.290 --> 00:08:02.910 He says the kingdom is at hand. It's present. 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:07.310 And what he's referring to was that the king, 00:08:07.430 --> 00:08:13.699 I mean the king, capital K, was present. He was 00:08:13.699 --> 00:08:17.879 here. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. If you'll 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:20.060 turn over a page or two in your Bible to chapter 00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:24.060 4, verse 17, you'll notice that as soon as Jesus 00:08:24.060 --> 00:08:28.060 was baptized, he began to preach. And what did 00:08:28.060 --> 00:08:31.920 he say? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:36.039 at hand. You see, he picked up on the same theme 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:38.100 that John had been proclaiming out there in the 00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:41.519 wilderness. The kingdom of heaven is here at 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:44.220 hand. Why? Because he, the king, was present. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:49.879 Turn to chapter 10. We find in these early verses 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:53.639 of the chapter a record of Jesus calling and 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:58.019 sending out his disciples. And in verse 7, he 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:01.080 says to them, And as you go, preach, saying, 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:05.980 The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so there 00:09:05.980 --> 00:09:08.419 is something urgent about this. The kingdom of 00:09:08.419 --> 00:09:11.179 heaven, God's rule upon the earth, was being 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:14.120 offered in the person of the king who was there. 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:18.360 But of course, we know the story, and that is 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:23.340 that Israel refused and rejected the king. And 00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:25.820 therefore, the kingdom was not established in 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:32.389 its visible form in that day. As we come to chapter 00:09:32.389 --> 00:09:35.850 13 of Matthew, we see very clearly already, if 00:09:35.850 --> 00:09:38.529 we read the book, that that is what is going 00:09:38.529 --> 00:09:43.409 to happen. The king is going to be rejected by 00:09:43.409 --> 00:09:49.070 the nation. So that when we come to chapter 13, 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:56.210 we have a series of parables that Jesus teaches. 00:09:57.289 --> 00:10:00.070 And you will find that several times through 00:10:00.070 --> 00:10:02.509 this chapter, he will say the kingdom of heaven 00:10:02.509 --> 00:10:07.730 is like, or the kingdom of heaven can be compared 00:10:07.730 --> 00:10:12.429 to. And so now he is going to say something about 00:10:12.429 --> 00:10:16.629 the kingdom of heaven as it will be expressed 00:10:16.629 --> 00:10:21.570 after his rejection. It will not be the kingdom 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:24.669 that the Jews had anticipated, but it will take 00:10:24.669 --> 00:10:29.480 another form. A mystery form. A form that had 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:33.620 not been revealed to this point. It was going 00:10:33.620 --> 00:10:36.419 to be expressed in a way that the Old Testament 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:40.620 prophets never foresaw. God was going to do something 00:10:40.620 --> 00:10:45.399 he had kept hidden up to this time. He was going 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:48.179 to establish the mystery form of the kingdom. 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:53.750 Now the age in which we live. which we sometimes 00:10:53.750 --> 00:10:57.129 refer to as the age of the church or the age 00:10:57.129 --> 00:11:00.950 of grace, is the time when this mystery form 00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:05.870 of the kingdom is present in the world. Now, 00:11:05.909 --> 00:11:10.929 the church is a part of this kingdom of heaven, 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:15.470 but it's not identical to it. The kingdom of 00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:18.690 heaven is broader than that. In fact, we can 00:11:18.690 --> 00:11:21.879 say perhaps that the kingdom of heaven... is 00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:27.100 essentially equivalent to Christendom. It is 00:11:27.100 --> 00:11:31.399 that realm where some sort of allegiance is given 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:35.559 to Jesus and to the Bible, but not necessarily 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:40.159 a saving allegiance or faith. So the true church 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:44.539 is a part of it, but the concept is much broader 00:11:44.539 --> 00:11:47.559 than that. It includes those who profess to follow 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.710 Jesus Christ. but who in fact practice and preach 00:11:51.710 --> 00:12:01.610 much that is contrary to what Jesus said. We're 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:03.830 going to look at these parables today briefly, 00:12:03.990 --> 00:12:07.990 without looking at them in depth, just to get 00:12:07.990 --> 00:12:10.850 an understanding of what the church is all about 00:12:10.850 --> 00:12:13.570 during this age and how it relates to what is 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:16.389 called the kingdom of heaven, which we might 00:12:16.389 --> 00:12:22.009 call Christendom. There are at least three insights 00:12:22.009 --> 00:12:24.710 that we can gain from a study of the seven or 00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:29.909 eight parables in Matthew 13. Let's talk about 00:12:29.909 --> 00:12:34.570 them. Insight number one as to what this age 00:12:34.570 --> 00:12:38.490 is going to be like, this time when the kingdom 00:12:38.490 --> 00:12:43.190 of heaven is expressed in its mystery form. Insight 00:12:43.190 --> 00:12:45.409 number one is that it's going to be a time of 00:12:45.409 --> 00:12:50.559 limited reception of the Word. Now, we see that 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.919 in the parable that we've already read in verses 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:58.340 3 through 9. We do not have to wonder as to the 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:01.220 meaning of it, for Jesus himself interprets the 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:05.039 parable, beginning in verse 18. To his disciples, 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.080 he says, hear then the parable of the sword. 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:10.279 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:12.799 does not understand it, the evil one comes and 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.879 snatches away what has been sown in his heart. 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.860 This is the one on whom seed was sown beside 00:13:19.860 --> 00:13:23.820 the road. And the one on whom seed was sown in 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:27.159 the rocky places, this is the man who hears the 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:30.000 word and immediately receives it with joy, yet 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.039 he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:37.700 And when affliction or persecution arises because 00:13:37.700 --> 00:13:42.639 of the word, immediately he falls away. And the 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:45.379 one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this 00:13:45.379 --> 00:13:48.620 is the man who hears the word, and the worry 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:51.019 of the world and the deceitfulness of riches 00:13:51.019 --> 00:13:55.279 choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.600 the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:01.639 this is the man who hears the word and understands 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:06.159 it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:10.779 a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. And 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:13.220 so we learn regarding this parable of the sower, 00:14:13.340 --> 00:14:16.700 as Jesus calls it, that the sower is Christ. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:20.720 Now we see that from verse 37, when in the same 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.220 context, at the same time, although a different 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:27.000 parable, he himself identifies himself as the 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:32.360 sower. He is the sower, and he sows the seed 00:14:32.360 --> 00:14:34.759 which is identified as the word of the kingdom, 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:40.559 or we may say the word of God. The seed falls 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.340 upon different kinds of soil which represent 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:49.100 different kinds of hearts and responses, therefore, 00:14:49.299 --> 00:14:53.080 to the word of God. There is seed which falls 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:58.899 beside the road where the birds eat it. Jesus 00:14:58.899 --> 00:15:01.259 says that this represents the one who hears. 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:06.539 And notice each time the people hear the word. 00:15:07.980 --> 00:15:11.279 This one hears, but he does not understand it. 00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:14.759 Now, to really get the point of that, you need 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:17.600 to go back and look at verses 13 through 15 of 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:19.799 this chapter, and you'll see that he's talking 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:23.820 basically about the nation of Israel. They heard 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:27.480 it, but they didn't understand it. Therefore, 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.700 Jesus says, the devil comes and steals it. And 00:15:30.700 --> 00:15:35.159 so he says these birds represent the devil. They 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:39.240 must have been blackbirds, huh? Then there was 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:43.159 seed that was sown on rocky places where there 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:46.840 was thin soil and the sun came out and scorched 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:50.139 it. The seeds withered. There was no fruit at 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:52.960 all. Jesus said that this represents the one 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:57.159 who hears and who immediately then receives with 00:15:57.159 --> 00:16:00.700 joy what he hears, but it's only superficial. 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:07.419 His response is not even that deep. And so when... 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:13.019 Trouble comes, he falls away. One who's genuinely 00:16:13.019 --> 00:16:17.279 receiving the word would only find that affliction 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:20.419 and persecution to serve to deepen him in the 00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:25.299 word. But here's one who just superficially got 00:16:25.299 --> 00:16:27.840 it. This is like that shooting star Christian. 00:16:28.379 --> 00:16:32.899 Here today, gone tomorrow. Bright testimony while 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:36.419 it lasts, and then poof. When was the last time 00:16:36.419 --> 00:16:39.529 you heard of him? I don't remember when I saw 00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:43.750 him the last time. But he was so zealous. Well, 00:16:43.850 --> 00:16:50.909 here he is. Trouble came, and he fell away. You 00:16:50.909 --> 00:16:56.549 see, there is a faith which does not save. It 00:16:56.549 --> 00:16:58.629 is the kind of faith that is spoken about in 00:16:58.629 --> 00:17:03.070 John chapter 2, verses 23 to 25. It's the kind 00:17:03.070 --> 00:17:05.369 of faith that is superficial, intellectual faith, 00:17:05.490 --> 00:17:08.920 but is not a... life -changing personal faith 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:15.480 in Jesus Christ. Then there is the soil that 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:20.140 contains thorns. When the seed was sown upon 00:17:20.140 --> 00:17:23.700 the thorny soil, it grew all right, but some 00:17:23.700 --> 00:17:28.200 problems came up. I mean, literally. The thorns 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:32.039 began to choke it, and it died. And so here's 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:34.339 one who hears the word, says Jesus, but when 00:17:34.339 --> 00:17:36.880 the worry of the world comes and the deceitfulness 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:41.079 of riches arise, these choke the word so that 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:45.900 nothing happens. It doesn't bear fruit. But then 00:17:45.900 --> 00:17:49.319 he says there is some seed that lands upon good 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:52.619 soil and it yields a crop. So here's one who 00:17:52.619 --> 00:17:59.359 hears and who understands. And as a result of 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:01.559 that, there is fruit in his life. And my friend, 00:18:01.619 --> 00:18:06.039 that is the assurance that one is saved. It is 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:08.119 not that he prayed a prayer or went forward into 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:10.299 service or was baptized or was a member of a 00:18:10.299 --> 00:18:15.059 church. But the proof that one is genuinely saved 00:18:15.059 --> 00:18:19.140 is the fruit in his life. Now there are some 00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:22.259 who bear a lot of fruit, a hundredfold. There 00:18:22.259 --> 00:18:24.980 are some who bear less and others who bear still 00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:29.400 less than that. I don't know that we can insist 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:32.299 on the ratios that are talked about here, but 00:18:32.299 --> 00:18:34.099 you will notice that the fruitfulness varies 00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:36.900 so that really only one -twelfth of the seed 00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:42.480 produced a full crop. Not exactly what a farmer 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:46.480 would be excited about. What does this parable 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:52.700 teach us? It is that during this age, when the 00:18:52.700 --> 00:18:55.099 mystery form of the kingdom is in the world, 00:18:55.690 --> 00:18:58.750 There will only be a very limited reception of 00:18:58.750 --> 00:19:03.150 the Word of God. You know, with all of the sowing 00:19:03.150 --> 00:19:05.549 of the seed of the Word of God that there is 00:19:05.549 --> 00:19:07.809 today, you would think that a lot more would 00:19:07.809 --> 00:19:12.269 be happening than is happening. I mean, with 00:19:12.269 --> 00:19:16.549 all of the Bible -teaching churches, with all 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:20.549 of the evangelistic crusades, and the Christian 00:19:20.549 --> 00:19:25.259 programming on radio. and Christian television. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:29.299 You would think that there would be an awful 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:32.799 lot of fruit around, but that isn't the case. 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:36.339 It is true that there's a great working of God 00:19:36.339 --> 00:19:40.059 in various countries and continents, and yet 00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:43.359 it's not at all keeping pace with the population 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:47.940 growth. And where there are these great movements, 00:19:48.019 --> 00:19:53.099 it's exceptional. It's not the rule. Indeed, 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.440 in countries like our own where the gospel has 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.420 been preached for hundreds of years, there is 00:19:58.420 --> 00:20:02.460 a real turnoff to it. You say, oh, but I hear 00:20:02.460 --> 00:20:04.559 all kinds of things happening. I even hear that 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:07.359 fundamentalists have taken over the Republican 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:10.839 Party in Minnesota. Have you heard that recently? 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:17.619 Well, my friend, to whatever extent that may 00:20:17.619 --> 00:20:20.859 be true, and frankly, I think it's... an attempt 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:25.740 at somebody's making for a smear campaign. But 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:29.200 that's beside the point for this morning. Whatever 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:33.099 is happening now, there's liable to be a pendulum 00:20:33.099 --> 00:20:36.759 come back the other direction in another year 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:42.039 or two or four. By and large, our nation is not 00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:45.839 receiving the Word of God. Some of us were talking 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:49.039 yesterday and... Perhaps we're at the point where 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.079 we must say that our nation is not even in a 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:54.880 post -Christian era, but rather in a pre -Christian 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:58.880 era. So that we've come full cycle, and now when 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:01.059 we go out to talk to people about Jesus Christ, 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:04.480 we must assume they are ignorant and know nothing 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:11.839 about the Bible. What we are told here is that 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:14.619 during this age, there will not be many people 00:21:15.529 --> 00:21:18.890 who will actually receive the word in comparison 00:21:18.890 --> 00:21:23.009 to those who hear it. Now this teaching and this 00:21:23.009 --> 00:21:26.910 parable devastates what has in recent years become 00:21:26.910 --> 00:21:30.250 an unpopular position regarding the millennium. 00:21:30.250 --> 00:21:33.869 It's called the post -millennial position. Those 00:21:33.869 --> 00:21:36.680 who adhere to that teaching... believed that 00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:39.599 the earth was going to be gradually evangelized 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:41.859 and things would get better and better and better. 00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:44.480 And finally, when everything had gotten perfect, 00:21:44.579 --> 00:21:49.160 Jesus would come and that would be it. That was 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:51.000 very popular around the turn of the century. 00:21:51.019 --> 00:21:53.019 And then there was a little war that took place 00:21:53.019 --> 00:21:57.619 in the early 1900s that just devastated it. And 00:21:57.619 --> 00:22:02.579 now we see continually increasing wars and increasing 00:22:02.579 --> 00:22:06.420 rejection of the Word of God. In fact, if the 00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:08.660 Bible teaches anything, I think it teaches that 00:22:08.660 --> 00:22:12.940 during the closing days of this age, there will 00:22:12.940 --> 00:22:15.720 be increasing hostility to the Word of God, not 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:20.960 an openness to it. This is going to be a time 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.339 of limited reception regarding the Word. That's 00:22:23.339 --> 00:22:25.819 one insight. So don't be surprised when you go 00:22:25.819 --> 00:22:28.019 out and you pass out tracts to everybody at work 00:22:28.019 --> 00:22:33.299 that you get fired. You may have done it in the 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:38.140 wrong way. Maybe you didn't. Don't be surprised 00:22:38.140 --> 00:22:40.720 when your family does not all greet you at the 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:43.900 family reunion when you come in with your big 00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:47.720 Bible under your arm. Because you see, during 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:50.759 this age, the reception to the Word of God is 00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:56.500 very limited. Very limited. A second insight 00:22:56.500 --> 00:23:00.079 that we gain from these parables is that it's 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:02.240 going to be a time of coexistence between good 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:05.670 and evil. We see that in the parable of the wheat 00:23:05.670 --> 00:23:08.509 and tares, the parable of the mustard seed, and 00:23:08.509 --> 00:23:12.470 the parable of the leaven. Now we should at least 00:23:12.470 --> 00:23:14.569 read what the parable of the wheat and tares 00:23:14.569 --> 00:23:18.609 says. It begins in verse 24 where Jesus says, 00:23:18.670 --> 00:23:21.150 The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man 00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:24.869 who sowed good seed in his field. While men were 00:23:24.869 --> 00:23:27.450 sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also 00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:31.740 among the wheat and went away. But when the wheat 00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:35.099 sprang up and bore grain, then the tares became 00:23:35.099 --> 00:23:38.400 evident also. And the slaves of the landowner 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:41.460 came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good 00:23:41.460 --> 00:23:44.460 seed in your field? How then does it have tares? 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:48.000 He said to them, An enemy has done this. And 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.220 the slaves said to him, Do you want us then to 00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:53.880 go and gather them up? And he said, No, lest 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:55.839 while you're gathering up the tares, you may 00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:13.670 root up the wheat. Now, the interpretation of 00:24:13.670 --> 00:24:18.710 that is given in verses 36 through 43. Basically, 00:24:18.769 --> 00:24:21.490 Jesus gives us seven things that we can look 00:24:21.490 --> 00:24:23.450 at in that parable. He says, the sower is me. 00:24:24.250 --> 00:24:27.380 That's what Jesus says. And he says the field 00:24:27.380 --> 00:24:32.920 is the world. He says the good seed is the sons 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:37.200 of the kingdom. The tares are the sons of the 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:43.359 devil. The enemy is the devil. The harvest is 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:46.000 the end of the age, and those who reap are the 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.259 angels. Now, what are the principles that we 00:24:49.259 --> 00:24:55.119 see here? Well, we see that... Good and evil 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:58.839 are together in the world of Christendom, in 00:24:58.839 --> 00:25:02.259 this kingdom of heaven, in its mystery form. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:06.579 And just as there are those who are genuinely 00:25:06.579 --> 00:25:10.839 the children of God in Christendom, so there 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:15.279 are those that Satan plants, who are children 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:22.720 of his. Satan is a master counterfeiter. He loves 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:27.720 to imitate, and so he places imitation, counterfeit 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:32.039 Christians, so -called, in the realm of Christendom. 00:25:33.900 --> 00:25:39.500 We also learn from this parable that the genuine 00:25:39.500 --> 00:25:42.619 and the counterfeit are allowed to remain together 00:25:42.619 --> 00:25:46.859 until the end of the age, until Christ comes 00:25:46.859 --> 00:25:52.339 back, is the thought. They will be together until 00:25:52.339 --> 00:25:56.500 the end of the age. Now, there are some who try 00:25:56.500 --> 00:25:59.220 to extract from that a teaching that says that 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:01.900 there should not be practiced church discipline. 00:26:03.259 --> 00:26:05.980 Jesus is not talking here about the local church. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:09.059 He's talking about Christendom. There is to be 00:26:09.059 --> 00:26:12.220 church discipline within a local church, and 00:26:12.220 --> 00:26:15.619 that's another subject. But he is saying that 00:26:15.619 --> 00:26:18.460 in Christendom, this broad umbrella where there 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:22.970 is... some kind of allegiance to Jesus and to 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:27.049 the Bible, where people hear something of the 00:26:27.049 --> 00:26:31.150 Word, then in this realm there are those who 00:26:31.150 --> 00:26:33.569 are true, those who are saved, a part of the 00:26:33.569 --> 00:26:37.190 church. There are those who are not saved, but 00:26:37.190 --> 00:26:41.190 who are good imitations of the real thing. Indeed, 00:26:41.289 --> 00:26:45.210 they're hard to tell apart, says our Lord. But 00:26:45.210 --> 00:26:49.210 finally... He says, in the judgment, the good 00:26:49.210 --> 00:26:53.369 and the evil will be separated, and each will 00:26:53.369 --> 00:26:59.730 be appropriately rewarded. So when you turn on 00:26:59.730 --> 00:27:03.849 your tube and you see somebody coming over the 00:27:03.849 --> 00:27:06.150 airwaves who's preaching something in the name 00:27:06.150 --> 00:27:11.650 of Jesus Christ that is false, don't just get 00:27:11.650 --> 00:27:15.869 angry. Turn the thing off. No. Don't just get 00:27:15.869 --> 00:27:20.019 angry. realize that even though the average person 00:27:20.019 --> 00:27:23.000 in the world is not able to see the difference, 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:27.039 that ultimately God is going to tell the difference 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.500 between that one who is false and those who are 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:35.039 true. It's not always going to be so that the 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:40.640 good and the evil will be together. We see a 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.140 similar teaching in what is said about the mustard 00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:48.079 seed. Verses 31 and 32. The kingdom of heaven 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:50.700 is like a mustard seed, which a man took and 00:27:50.700 --> 00:27:54.440 sowed in his field. And this is smaller than 00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:58.440 all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:02.079 is larger than the garden plants and becomes 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:06.539 a tree so that the birds of the air come and 00:28:06.539 --> 00:28:10.200 nest in its branches. And there our Lord seems 00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:14.980 to be quoting from the Old Testament. So if the 00:28:14.980 --> 00:28:17.039 first parable that we've looked at in this section, 00:28:17.160 --> 00:28:18.940 that is the parable of the wheat and the tares, 00:28:18.980 --> 00:28:23.200 talks about false Christians in this age, what 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:26.660 does this parable teach us? It teaches us about 00:28:26.660 --> 00:28:30.880 false growth. False growth. There are those who 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:32.980 say this represents the growth of the church. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:38.319 That is not the case. What Jesus is saying here 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:41.859 is that this kingdom of heaven, this Christendom, 00:28:42.670 --> 00:28:45.950 Although it had a seemingly insignificant beginning, 00:28:46.309 --> 00:28:52.829 and it did with him, 12 apostles, that it grew. 00:28:54.130 --> 00:28:56.890 In fact, the way that he says it here seems to 00:28:56.890 --> 00:29:00.569 indicate that what it grew to be was out of proportion. 00:29:02.009 --> 00:29:07.410 And it became almost a monstrosity, a tree. And 00:29:07.410 --> 00:29:12.440 he says it became a refuge for the birds. What 00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:16.000 does that mean? Well, if you look at another 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:19.279 parable, the first one that we looked at in the 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:24.539 chapter, find the birds represent what? The devil. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:28.859 Represent evil. And so what our Lord seems to 00:29:28.859 --> 00:29:33.660 be saying here, that Christendom began 2 ,000 00:29:33.660 --> 00:29:38.519 years ago from a genuine seed, seemingly insignificant. 00:29:39.819 --> 00:29:42.519 But that in the course of the last 2 ,000 years, 00:29:42.700 --> 00:29:47.039 there has been a humongous, even monstrous growth 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:50.759 in this thing called Christendom. And so it is 00:29:50.759 --> 00:29:55.619 today. Consider the organizational, bureaucratic 00:29:55.619 --> 00:30:01.240 growth within denominations. Think of the world 00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:04.740 power that Christendom has become so that one 00:30:04.740 --> 00:30:08.200 branch of it even now has an ambassador in Washington. 00:30:09.799 --> 00:30:14.180 Think of the material wealth, the political power 00:30:14.180 --> 00:30:20.480 which Christendom has. This tree of Christendom 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:25.400 has become a haven for evil. For in this tree, 00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:30.000 there are those who teach good works, religion, 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:34.660 and that's evil in the sight of God. There are 00:30:34.660 --> 00:30:37.980 those who teach that man is his own God, humanism. 00:30:38.269 --> 00:30:40.829 That is evil in the sight of God. That's idolatry. 00:30:41.549 --> 00:30:44.730 There are those who teach revolution and Marxism 00:30:44.730 --> 00:30:49.569 called liberation theology. There are those who 00:30:49.569 --> 00:30:56.269 couple together ritual and ceremony with a little 00:30:56.269 --> 00:31:01.190 bit of the Word and corrupt the Word. So you 00:31:01.190 --> 00:31:03.049 see what Jesus is saying? He's talking about 00:31:03.049 --> 00:31:05.289 false growth in Christendom, in this kingdom 00:31:05.289 --> 00:31:10.660 of heaven. During this age, what began very small 00:31:10.660 --> 00:31:15.460 become very big and be infiltrated with evil. 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:20.160 There will be false growth. Now we see that last 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:22.819 thought underscored in the parable of the leaven 00:31:22.819 --> 00:31:26.259 in verse 33. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, 00:31:26.299 --> 00:31:31.079 which a woman took and hid in three pecks of 00:31:31.079 --> 00:31:34.720 meal until it was all leavened. There are those 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:37.420 who say, well, that's the gospel, leavening the 00:31:37.420 --> 00:31:39.920 whole earth, and it means everybody is eventually 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:43.660 going to have a chance to hear, be saved, and 00:31:43.660 --> 00:31:45.359 the kingdom is... No, that's not what it's saying. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:49.420 Every time that leaven is mentioned in the Bible 00:31:49.420 --> 00:31:55.200 symbolically, it symbolizes evil. And what seems 00:31:55.200 --> 00:32:00.690 to be indicated here is false doctrine. And so 00:32:00.690 --> 00:32:03.769 we have these insights that during this time, 00:32:03.950 --> 00:32:06.630 there will be a coexistence between good and 00:32:06.630 --> 00:32:09.670 evil. There will be false Christians, false growth, 00:32:09.950 --> 00:32:17.369 and false doctrine. In chapter 16, verses 1 through 00:32:17.369 --> 00:32:19.690 12, a passage we don't have time to read, Jesus 00:32:19.690 --> 00:32:23.430 warns about the leaven of the Pharisees, which 00:32:23.430 --> 00:32:29.829 in that context is false doctrine. Over in the 00:32:29.829 --> 00:32:32.529 Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verse 1, he again 00:32:32.529 --> 00:32:34.809 warns about the leaven of the Pharisees, but 00:32:34.809 --> 00:32:38.829 there he calls it hypocrisy. Now the two of them 00:32:38.829 --> 00:32:42.849 go together, don't they? False teaching and false 00:32:42.849 --> 00:32:47.289 living belong together. What our Lord is saying 00:32:47.289 --> 00:32:52.170 here is that during this age, this kingdom of 00:32:52.170 --> 00:32:57.680 heaven, this mystery form, this Christendom in 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:04.039 which we live will be infiltrated by evil doctrine. 00:33:04.259 --> 00:33:07.640 It will be corrupted by that which is false. 00:33:09.140 --> 00:33:12.099 And ultimately the whole thing will be influenced 00:33:12.099 --> 00:33:15.559 by it. And that coincides perfectly with what 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:18.519 we know is going to happen at the very conclusion 00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:25.529 of this age when the world church is going to 00:33:25.529 --> 00:33:29.609 unite together around the leading of the false 00:33:29.609 --> 00:33:36.470 prophet who will point the church toward Antichrist 00:33:36.470 --> 00:33:40.609 and say, here is Christ, worship him. And they 00:33:40.609 --> 00:33:48.670 will do it. They will do it. And so we have some 00:33:48.670 --> 00:33:52.930 understanding of what this age is like. It's 00:33:52.930 --> 00:33:55.190 a time when there will be a limited reception 00:33:55.190 --> 00:33:59.029 of the word and a time of coexistence between 00:33:59.029 --> 00:34:01.490 good and evil, at least until the end of the 00:34:01.490 --> 00:34:06.609 age. Now we come to a third insight that we gain 00:34:06.609 --> 00:34:10.469 from these parables. It is this, that this age 00:34:10.469 --> 00:34:15.070 is characterized as a time of finding that which 00:34:15.070 --> 00:34:20.610 is highly valued. This is... seen in the parables 00:34:20.610 --> 00:34:23.110 of the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, 00:34:23.309 --> 00:34:30.329 and the dragnet. Indeed, there seem to be three 00:34:30.329 --> 00:34:33.449 different peoples who are in view in these three 00:34:33.449 --> 00:34:38.969 parables. And again, this coincides with what 00:34:38.969 --> 00:34:43.969 we understand of the Word of God. You'll notice 00:34:43.969 --> 00:34:47.190 in verse 44 the parable of the hidden treasurer. 00:34:48.780 --> 00:34:51.119 The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden 00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:54.139 in the field which a man found and hid, and from 00:34:54.139 --> 00:34:57.300 joy over it he goes and sells all that he has 00:34:57.300 --> 00:35:00.659 and buys that field. There are those who say, 00:35:00.699 --> 00:35:02.500 well, that's the gospel. A man's going out to 00:35:02.500 --> 00:35:09.380 get the gospel. You don't buy the gospel. The 00:35:09.380 --> 00:35:12.340 one who does the buying here, who gives all that 00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:18.289 he has, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the treasure 00:35:18.289 --> 00:35:22.690 that seems to be in view in this parable is specifically 00:35:22.690 --> 00:35:28.309 the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel, which 00:35:28.309 --> 00:35:32.869 now is as though it were hidden in the field, 00:35:32.989 --> 00:35:35.849 which is the world, scattered throughout the 00:35:35.849 --> 00:35:39.389 earth. Not even a nation until our own generation. 00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:45.480 It is true that Jesus Christ gave himself for 00:35:45.480 --> 00:35:47.840 the whole world, as this man gave himself for 00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:50.980 the whole field, and yet Jesus Christ gave himself 00:35:50.980 --> 00:35:54.219 in a special way for Israel, according to Isaiah 00:35:54.219 --> 00:36:00.460 53 .8. And it reminds us that God's purpose is 00:36:00.460 --> 00:36:04.980 one day to restore Israel to her place of blessing. 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:12.130 To her place of blessing. Israel is like a treasure 00:36:12.130 --> 00:36:17.489 of God, presently as hidden, but someday it will 00:36:17.489 --> 00:36:22.010 be restored. What about the pearl of great price? 00:36:22.070 --> 00:36:25.690 Verse 45 says, The kingdom of heaven is like 00:36:25.690 --> 00:36:28.789 a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding 00:36:28.789 --> 00:36:33.030 one pearl of great value, he went and sold all 00:36:33.030 --> 00:36:36.230 that he had, notice that again, and bought it. 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:42.000 I believe that the pearl here represents the 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:47.159 church of Jesus Christ. Again, the pearl is not 00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:50.159 Jesus Christ, even though we have some very nice 00:36:50.159 --> 00:36:55.679 songs written that way. In the context here, 00:36:55.820 --> 00:37:00.800 the pearl is that which is purchased, and I believe 00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:04.139 it represents the church. There are at least 00:37:04.139 --> 00:37:07.150 three parallels I would draw between... the pearl 00:37:07.150 --> 00:37:10.269 and the church. Number one, the pearl is a unity. 00:37:11.869 --> 00:37:15.369 The pearl, unlike a gem, cannot be cut and divided. 00:37:16.550 --> 00:37:20.630 A pearl is one, and so is the church. We are 00:37:20.630 --> 00:37:24.530 not Jew and Gentile. We are all one in Christ 00:37:24.530 --> 00:37:31.409 Jesus. We are a unity. Furthermore, a pearl is 00:37:31.409 --> 00:37:38.639 formed from suffering. foreign body within a 00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:45.400 mollusk produces an irritation which causes a 00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:51.000 deposition of gradual layers of an iridescent 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:55.039 material, noxious material. And over the process 00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:59.000 of time, those gradual layers form the pearl. 00:37:59.619 --> 00:38:03.280 And so it is from suffering that the church is 00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:07.550 formed. and the suffering of our Lord. And its 00:38:07.550 --> 00:38:11.210 growth is gradual. That is the third parallel. 00:38:11.469 --> 00:38:14.789 It is a slow growth and hidden from eyes. You 00:38:14.789 --> 00:38:19.449 don't watch a pearl being made. It is hidden. 00:38:19.949 --> 00:38:22.849 And so it is with the church today. The church 00:38:22.849 --> 00:38:27.409 is not seen in its beauty. Its loveliness is 00:38:27.409 --> 00:38:31.489 hidden, even from our own eyes. But the fact 00:38:31.489 --> 00:38:34.230 is, when it comes time for the church to be revealed 00:38:34.230 --> 00:38:37.210 at the rapture, we are going to be taken out 00:38:37.210 --> 00:38:41.150 a perfect, spotless bride for the Son of God, 00:38:41.230 --> 00:38:44.670 and the beauty of the church will be exposed 00:38:44.670 --> 00:38:49.909 at that time. There is only one church, as there 00:38:49.909 --> 00:38:53.750 is only one pearl in this parable. Although there 00:38:53.750 --> 00:38:58.809 are many local churches, One can be a member 00:38:58.809 --> 00:39:01.769 of a local church without being a member of the 00:39:01.769 --> 00:39:06.570 church of Jesus Christ. One becomes a part of 00:39:06.570 --> 00:39:11.150 the church by repenting of his sin and trusting 00:39:11.150 --> 00:39:13.449 in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever done 00:39:13.449 --> 00:39:19.510 that? Putting your name on a church roll in this 00:39:19.510 --> 00:39:21.909 world does not put your name on the Lamb's Book 00:39:21.909 --> 00:39:25.030 of Life. That's the roll book for the church. 00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:29.760 On the other hand, those who are part of the 00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:32.760 church ought also to be a part of a local church, 00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:39.619 a local assembly of God's people. But the pearl 00:39:39.619 --> 00:39:42.159 here represents the church, the second of the 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:44.460 peoples that God has to do with at the close 00:39:44.460 --> 00:39:46.400 of this age. We've talked about Israel and the 00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:49.539 church. We come now to the dragnet. In verse 00:39:49.539 --> 00:39:51.900 47, it says, The kingdom of heaven is like a 00:39:51.900 --> 00:39:54.519 dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish 00:39:54.519 --> 00:39:57.869 of every kind. When it was filled, they drew 00:39:57.869 --> 00:40:00.949 it up to the beach, and they sat down and gathered 00:40:00.949 --> 00:40:03.230 the good fish in the containers, but the bad 00:40:03.230 --> 00:40:06.510 they threw away. So it will be at the end of 00:40:06.510 --> 00:40:10.269 the age. The angels will come, says Jesus, will 00:40:10.269 --> 00:40:14.170 come forth and take out the wicked from among 00:40:14.170 --> 00:40:17.530 the righteous and will cast them into the furnace 00:40:17.530 --> 00:40:20.650 of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing 00:40:20.650 --> 00:40:24.659 of teeth. I believe that this third parable points 00:40:24.659 --> 00:40:26.940 to the third group that God has to do with at 00:40:26.940 --> 00:40:29.780 the end of this age, and that is those Gentiles 00:40:29.780 --> 00:40:32.619 who will be saved during the tribulation period. 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:37.699 You see at the rapture, every believer in Jesus 00:40:37.699 --> 00:40:39.699 Christ is going to be taken out of the world, 00:40:39.739 --> 00:40:44.820 but after that, God has already said that there 00:40:44.820 --> 00:40:48.579 will be 144 ,000 Jews who will be evangelists, 00:40:48.579 --> 00:40:50.480 who will preach throughout the whole earth during 00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:53.860 the tribulation period. Not only will Jews be 00:40:53.860 --> 00:40:56.360 saved during that time, but Gentiles. In fact, 00:40:56.380 --> 00:40:58.780 an innumerable multitude of them is seen in the 00:40:58.780 --> 00:41:02.780 book of Revelation. I believe that those saved 00:41:02.780 --> 00:41:05.219 Gentiles are the ones pictured here as the good 00:41:05.219 --> 00:41:09.079 fish caught in that dragnet. That dragnet is 00:41:09.079 --> 00:41:11.659 the gospel preached during the tribulation period, 00:41:11.940 --> 00:41:15.519 that time of Christendom, as it comes to its 00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:19.619 final end. And while there will be many bad fish 00:41:19.619 --> 00:41:22.539 in the net, And they will be judged, according 00:41:22.539 --> 00:41:26.480 as he says here, and taken out. The good will 00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:29.900 be saved. Not those who've been good, but I mean 00:41:29.900 --> 00:41:32.300 the good fish, those who've trusted Jesus Christ 00:41:32.300 --> 00:41:36.559 during that period of time, those Gentiles. And 00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:38.639 we know from what the Bible says that they will 00:41:38.639 --> 00:41:40.739 enter the millennium in their natural bodies 00:41:40.739 --> 00:41:44.320 to populate the nations during the kingdom reign 00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:48.840 of Jesus Christ. I have said a whole lot here 00:41:48.840 --> 00:41:51.510 in a few minutes. And some of you may be saying, 00:41:51.630 --> 00:41:55.150 boy, where does all that fit in? Well, we have 00:41:55.150 --> 00:41:57.110 a doctrinal class here, and on the eighth week 00:41:57.110 --> 00:42:00.170 of that class, we talk about prophecy, and that 00:42:00.170 --> 00:42:02.090 would be a time for maybe you to come and attend 00:42:02.090 --> 00:42:05.369 so that you can get in on that particular aspect 00:42:05.369 --> 00:42:07.329 of the doctrine that we teach here, and we'll 00:42:07.329 --> 00:42:09.269 talk about some of these things more in detail. 00:42:10.429 --> 00:42:13.170 The lesson that I'm pointing out is that this 00:42:13.170 --> 00:42:18.400 time in which we live, this... Time when the 00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:22.199 kingdom of heaven is in its mystery form is a 00:42:22.199 --> 00:42:25.179 time of finding that which is highly valued. 00:42:27.019 --> 00:42:29.579 Do you know that there is nothing more valuable 00:42:29.579 --> 00:42:33.980 to God than your soul? Say, how do you know that? 00:42:36.059 --> 00:42:44.000 Because he gave all that he had for it. For God 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:47.039 so loved the world, that's you. that he gave 00:42:47.039 --> 00:42:55.099 his only begotten Son, so that whosoever would 00:42:55.099 --> 00:42:59.460 believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting 00:42:59.460 --> 00:43:04.440 life. Have you ever responded to God's love that 00:43:04.440 --> 00:43:07.519 way? God is seeking you out. You say, yes, but 00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:09.360 I'm so unworthy. I need to get myself cleaned 00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:13.380 up. No, my friend. God is seeking you out. Will 00:43:13.380 --> 00:43:17.250 you today respond to let him clean you up? We 00:43:17.250 --> 00:43:21.570 let him save you. Right now, his interest is 00:43:21.570 --> 00:43:25.570 finding that which is highly valued. You're highly 00:43:25.570 --> 00:43:28.349 valued in God's eyes. He gave his son for you. 00:43:29.050 --> 00:43:32.989 Will you respond in faith to that and trust him? 00:43:33.590 --> 00:43:39.480 Receive Christ? I want to close by just pointing 00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:41.860 to one final thing Jesus says here in verses 00:43:41.860 --> 00:43:45.380 51 and 52. Some see this as an eighth parable, 00:43:45.380 --> 00:43:50.460 and it well may be. Have you understood all these 00:43:50.460 --> 00:43:54.280 things? Jesus said to his disciples. They said 00:43:54.280 --> 00:43:57.360 to him, yes. I hope they were telling the truth. 00:43:59.539 --> 00:44:02.639 Well, he said to them, therefore, every scribe 00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:05.440 who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven. 00:44:06.250 --> 00:44:08.789 is like a head of a household who brings forth 00:44:08.789 --> 00:44:11.730 out of his treasure things new and old. You know 00:44:11.730 --> 00:44:13.769 what Jesus is saying to us here by way of application? 00:44:15.710 --> 00:44:17.690 He is saying that those of us who understand 00:44:17.690 --> 00:44:20.469 the word of God, now go back to parable number 00:44:20.469 --> 00:44:23.550 one, that's those who are genuinely saved who 00:44:23.550 --> 00:44:26.769 have fruit in their life as evidence of it. That's 00:44:26.769 --> 00:44:30.750 those who understand. Those of us who understand 00:44:30.750 --> 00:44:35.960 should be in the first place like scribes. Those 00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:40.059 who are students of the Word of God. Those who 00:44:40.059 --> 00:44:43.760 study the truth as scribes studied the Old Testament 00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:47.260 Scriptures in that day. Are you studying the 00:44:47.260 --> 00:44:50.619 Word of God? Are you a student of it? Are you 00:44:50.619 --> 00:44:55.860 learning the things of God? Secondly, he says 00:44:55.860 --> 00:44:59.099 we ought to be like disciples. Not just those 00:44:59.099 --> 00:45:01.340 who study the Word, but those who live the Word 00:45:01.340 --> 00:45:04.840 in their lives. It's not enough just to know 00:45:04.840 --> 00:45:07.340 the facts. We have to live out those facts. We 00:45:07.340 --> 00:45:10.500 have to practice the truth. Are you doing that? 00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:17.699 Are you living up to what you know? I suppose 00:45:17.699 --> 00:45:21.300 not many of us are, really. That certainly should 00:45:21.300 --> 00:45:25.360 be our desire and our goal. And thirdly, he says 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:30.239 that we are to be like stewards, those who share 00:45:30.239 --> 00:45:34.329 the treasures of the Word. Not just those who 00:45:34.329 --> 00:45:37.090 study it and those who then practice it, but 00:45:37.090 --> 00:45:41.309 those who are giving. Some things that are old 00:45:41.309 --> 00:45:43.469 to people, some things that will be new to them, 00:45:43.510 --> 00:45:48.889 but we're to share it. Are you sharing it? We 00:45:48.889 --> 00:45:52.190 are not exactly synonymous with the kingdom of 00:45:52.190 --> 00:45:54.230 heaven. It's broader than what we are as the 00:45:54.230 --> 00:45:59.909 church. But we are a part of that. I trust that 00:45:59.909 --> 00:46:04.519 we are a faithful church. You're a faithful scribe, 00:46:04.519 --> 00:46:08.519 disciple, and steward of Jesus Christ. Let's 00:46:08.519 --> 00:46:22.820 pray. Father, I don't know how this word hits 00:46:22.820 --> 00:46:26.500 each of us today, just what need it meets or 00:46:26.500 --> 00:46:32.210 what need it may expose. But I pray that you 00:46:32.210 --> 00:46:37.110 will use what we've said today to show us truth, 00:46:37.269 --> 00:46:42.250 that we might then practice it and share it with 00:46:42.250 --> 00:46:47.010 others. We thank you that you have given all 00:46:47.010 --> 00:46:52.269 that you have for us because you count us highly 00:46:52.269 --> 00:46:56.829 valued. We rejoice that you've made us a part 00:46:56.829 --> 00:47:02.159 of the pearl of great price. Father, as those 00:47:02.159 --> 00:47:04.599 who are members of the body of Jesus Christ, 00:47:04.820 --> 00:47:08.900 who are a part of the church, may we be faithful 00:47:08.900 --> 00:47:13.219 to you in this world and in this age in which 00:47:13.219 --> 00:47:17.940 you have assigned us to live. May we live so 00:47:17.940 --> 00:47:20.239 that when we see you face to face one day in 00:47:20.239 --> 00:47:24.780 the future, we can be confident, not have to 00:47:24.780 --> 00:47:33.210 be ashamed. In Jesus' name, amen. I'd like for 00:47:33.210 --> 00:47:35.769 us to close today by singing number seven.